MEDIA WATCH: A Martinelli Franchise
UNDER the headline: “The ruler who converted the country into part of his franchise,’’ La Estrellalaunched on Sunday the first of a series revealing the power of campaign donors.
“THIS is a government that is not run by politicians, but is managed with an entrepreneurial vision, something never seen before in Panamanian history” Ricardo Martinelli told the magazine America Economia in 2010.”
To meet this ‘corporate vision’ Martinelli placed in key positions his most trusted people, mainly colleagues in Ricamar Importer and Super 99. Martinelli also named to the government some of their families and their partners in other businesses.
Perhaps the most significant case for the Martinelli administration to work as he wanted, was Gioconda Torres de Bianchini, who went from being the chief accountant of Super 99 to Comptroller of the Republic .
Each of the contracts and payments that were made to the Martinelli government had to go through the hands of Torres de Bianchini, who was to supervise the proper management of funds and property of the state. It was she who authorized and endorsed the hundreds of projects in the past five years.
And as the Comptroller, during the last administration there were several officials who, although they left the private sector, continued to work for the same boss. Frank De Lima, Federico Suarez, Guillermo Saez Llorens, Alma Cortes, and others. The photos of all, surrounding Martinelli appear in La Estrella
As a businessman Ricardo Martinelli, was successful and a multimillionaire, what led him to the headache of ruling Even shortly before leaving the presidential chair, he admitted that he regretted having ventured into public life.
Former Vice Chancellor Lisímaco Lopez y Lopez argues that Ricardo Martinelli wanted ‘power to exercise in his favor. “
Olmedo Beluche sociologist believes that “Like all neoliberal governments, “Martinelli just wanted to get richer:” The route was the accumulation by dispossession, and appropriation of state funds. To achieve that, he needed accomplices
Lawyer Miguel Antonio Bernal believes that there were no better ‘accomplices’ than Martinelli employees and they moved from the private sector to the public. “Being Martinelli employees for so long, they would have the obedience would be subservient, and never say no, “said Bernal.Since the change of government, The Public Ministry has received complaints from virtually all government entities for damage to state property during the past administration.
And not only irregularities in the National Assistance Program (PAN), the most emblematic case until now; there have been reports in the ministries of Labor, Economy and Finance, Health; in the Tourism authority, the government innovation program and other such as the Institute for Training and Development of Human Resources and the National Lottery.
Today, almost half of the people who were at one time in the Cabinet of Ricardo Martinelli are linked to corruption investigations.
